


No Substitute for Experience

by Lethe_Hypnos



Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz, Assassination Classroom
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Grief/Mourning, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 18:58:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17872946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lethe_Hypnos/pseuds/Lethe_Hypnos
Summary: He was a bit old for a student, but far too young to be a teacher. Officially they made him a student, unofficially well that was more complicated. And dependent on how long he can keep his cover.





	1. Mission Unknown

**Author's Note:**

> It's been years since I last read an Alex Rider books, but I was re-watching assassination classroom and I couldn't resist. So some things may be wrong since I'm using wiki to fill in the gaps in my memory - please bear with me here. I also no longer have the books so I can't really fact check what I'm writing.
> 
> For the record, Alex is around 16~17 and post Scorpia-Rising (I know he's still 14 in that book but I call bullshit on that). I really don't know how old E-Class is but they're going into high school and I started high school at 13~14 but I was the youngest in my class so I'll assume that's their current age.

     Alex was once again pulled out of school by MI6. It wasn’t the first time and it wouldn’t be the last - didn’t make it any less annoying though. At least this time he got to actually continue his studies while “working”. 

     They'd given him two weeks to get his Japanese to a passable level in order to attend Kunugigaoka Middle School, as a student despite the fact he would be around three years older than his classmates. Granted, they had altered his age on his official transcripts so everything looking normal at least on paper. Regardless the curriculum looked decent enough and was surprisingly similar to his own school’s curriculum, even though they were technically a few grades below him. This Japanese prep school was no joke, and frankly, he wouldn't be opposed to attending the school even if it wasn't a mission. Only problem was MI6 felt he didn't need to know why he was being sent there in the first place. According to them, it would be explained when he got there, and his equipment from Smithers would also be waiting there. Apparently, they were a collaboration between MI6 and the Japanese Ministry of Defense whatever that meant.

     No matter how Alex looked at this, this mission spelled trouble. He was being sent in blind, to an elite prep school, with absolutely no weapons. This mission raised all the red flags and then some.

 

* * *

 

     “Word just came down,” Karasuma said, addressing the entirety of E-Class, Koro-Sensei and Jelavic before class had even started for the day, “E-Class is getting a new student.” 

     “A new student!” The room erupted in excitement, students talked amoung themselves and Koro-Sensei chattered to himself happily for a bit before Karasuma took charge again.

     “He’s a foreign transfer student from Britain, and he will be sworn in and help take part in assassination attempts. He’ll arrive in two weeks, any questions?” Karasuma quickly explained, taking one last glance at the file in his hands. Most of it was redacted, only bare bone information remained. It seemed not even he was allowed to know who this new kid was before he arrived.

      “Oh! Is he cute!” Rio asked, grinning slyly.

      “Are there any good questions?” He amended, not bothering to dignify that with an answer.

      “That is a good question!” Jelavic defended, “Oh! Just let me see the file!” He merely dodged her attempt to snatch it, and shoved her into the hallway slamming the door to prevent her from trying again. At least in front of the students.

     “Sir?" Nagisa spoke up, "Why is he transferring here if he’s just going to be placed in E-Class? It's rare for E-Class to get new students at all, let alone foreign transfer students."

      “He is being placed here due to suspected behavioral problems and alleged gang and drug related problems. His grades are impeccable and no doubt the chairman has ulterior motives, but he refuses to budge on this.”

      “Suspected?” Karma called out idly playing with his anti-sensei knife.

      “He has long absences that the teaching staff at his previous school doesn't believe they were for legitimate reasons. None of this is proven of course and he has official paperwork proving it was for legitimate reasons. The chairman, however, doesn’t want to take any chances, so if the new student can hack it here for a semester and keep his grades up then he’s going to A-Class unless he chooses to stay of course.”

      “He’ll be my student! Of course he’ll want to stay!” Koro-Sensei’s face had green stripes on it as he chuckled to himself.

 

* * *

  

     Turns out the two weeks leading up to the start of his mission were not to be spent studying in his own time. No, they only cared about his education when it was convenient for them as he was in a “safe house” which was more of a prison really since they somehow managed to have everything imported straight from Japan. There were no study breaks here. In the few hours he had to himself, his options were Japanese television, Japanese videogames, books also in Japanese or cooking only every package was unsurprisingly completely in Japanese. Alex was no stranger to immersion but this… this was insane. He swore not even Japan would this devoid of English writing. Then again, that was probably the point, if he could survive this week and gain a firm understanding of Japanese, he’d be able to pull of this mission – whatever this mission turned out to be.


	2. Mission Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex arrives in Japan, gets his mission debrief, meets his target and some of his classmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this took far longer than I wanted it to and is around three to four times longer than I wanted but at long last this chapter is done. Before you read this chapter, however, I just want to let you know that I purposefully capitalize "Chairman" throughout the chapter, it's intentional and not a typo in case you were wondering or if improper capitalization bothers you.

    Alex was exhausted by the time he arrived in Japan. The only saving grace was that it turned out he was right; Japan did have more English writing than that forsaken safe house - the terminal he landed even had directories in English. The only problem was everyone seemed to know exactly where they needed to go and Alex in a word was lost. He didn’t even know when or where he was supposed to meet up with the Japanese Ministry of Defense. Did he need to go through customs first? How was he supposed to get through customs? He had explosives on him. Small explosives disguised as earrings, sure, but explosives, nonetheless. He had been escorted through airport security in London by MI6. Alex ended up following the crowd. He would breakaway as soon as he could find a terminal with enough people where he wouldn’t look out of place.

    “Alex Rider?” A serious voice called out, pulling him from his thoughts.

    “Whose asking?” Alex responded turning around to find two rather mismatched adults. The man was tall with a serious face, he was muscular and clearly some type of government agent. Clinging to his arm was an attractive woman, though he seemed to be purposefully ignoring her. Alex had no idea what was going on, was this a cover? It certainly wasn’t a very good one, they stood out like a sore thumb. I mean at least the woman was blonde, if they were supposed to be his “parents” but still.

    “I’m Karasuma, I will be your PE teacher. And this i-“

    “Hi!” The woman next to him interrupted him smiling and bouncing slightly as she pulled him into a hug – which was really just her flaunting her cleavage, “You’re so cute! I’m Irina Jelavic! Your English teacher but I suppose you already know English don’t you!”

    Clearly not his “parents” then.

    “She always like this?” Alex sighed, twisted out her hold with a bit of effort. She was stronger than she looked but clearly strength wasn’t her specialty.

    “Ugh! You’re going to be just like all the other brats.” She complained lighting up a cigarette.

    “NO SMOKING!” Karasuma snapped, grabbing it from her before she could actually start smoking it. She wilted under his ire, looking oddly child-like. Alex found it hard to believe that these two were teachers; both them just didn’t seem suited to it and Ms. Jelavic’s act a minute ago was completely inappropriate for a teacher - even if he was technically speaking of age, at least in the UK.

    “We’ll discuss the specifics once we get you to the school but I’m with the Japanese Ministry of Defense. Irina Jelavic is an assassin also working with the Japanese Ministry of Defense.” Karasuma guided them out of the main area towards a corridor with signs warning that this was a restricted area.

    “I take it you’ll be explaining why an assassin and government agent are undercover as teachers.” Alex replied, carefully gauging his surroundings.  

    “Of course, but for now just follow us.” Karasuma declared and with no real choice. Alex followed them down a hallway which was being guarded by yet another government agent. They’d secured an entrance and exit; it was almost like an extraction team. There was something strange going on here.

 

* * *

 

     No one really spoke not even when they – or Karasuma and Alex, Jelavic apparently had better things to do - found themselves standing in front of the Chairman of the Board, Gakuho Asano. He had a domineering aura that might have affected Alex if he was anyone else. Even his “teacher”, Karasuma, seemed a bit intimidated but to Alex there was something familiar about the Chairman. The man’s eyes were intense but there was a hidden insanity in them, lighting them aflame. Alex felt his stomach turn. General Alexei Sarov. This man, the Chairman had the same eyes as General Alexei Sarov. The Chairman was walking a dangerous line and it would not end well.

    “When they told me, they were sending in a spy, you aren’t what I was expecting.” The Chairman still trying to look intimidating and maintain a certain level of control of the situation, but Alex remained unphased - he could practically feel his eyes rolling out his skull and the Chairman’s attempt.

    “Why does the principal know I’m a spy? I thought I was supposed to be undercover?” Alex asked Karasuma but kept his eyes on the Chairman.

    “The government and I have a mutually beneficial agreement.” Alex couldn’t help but feel that whatever this agreement was, that it was highly illegal. Well, nothing was technically legal where he was involved but this seemed like a whole another level.

    “Several months ago, a large portion of the moon was destroyed.” Karasuma picked up explaining what was apparently going on here and handed Alex a file, “It was destroyed by an inhuman creature and the Japanese government has issued a reward of 10 billion yen to whoever manages to kill him.”

    The file was a target profile on a being dubbed “the octopus”. It detailed the abilities of said creature as well as a few alarmingly short sentences on his behavioral patterns. There were also pages on pages of pictures displaying his abilities. Finally, the last page, just said weaknesses: anti-me material (also called anti-sensei material) and none. Alex put the file down looking between Karasuma and the Chairman, “Is this some interagency prank? Because I’m not seeing the punchline.”

    “I wish it was a joke, kid but the octopus wanted to teach E-Class, so the government struck an agreement with Chairman Asano here.”

    “Yes, and now the students must kill their teacher before the end of the year.” The Chairman looked completely smug as insanity burned in behind his eyes. Alex felt uncomfortable under his gaze which seemed to the intention behind it, but Alex easily hid his discomfort. Alex doubted the Chairman would understand that it had nothing to do with him and everything to do with a certain Russian General.

    “Why the time limit?” Alex deflected staring back at the Chairman without faltering.

    “Because the octopus is threatening to destroy the Earth at the end of the year. However, he isn’t allowed to harm students, so retaliation isn’t something you need to be concerned with.” Karasuma explained once more and Alex couldn’t help but feel that this wasn’t something a bunch of untrained kids could do even with a such severe handicap. Especially, since professionals had failed time and time again if the file was right. But certain things were starting to make sense, professionals and these kids had failed time and time again, so they were throwing him into the ring – a mix of a professional and kid.

    “Just a few more questions,” Alex declared looking between the two adults in the room, “First off, I am undercover or not?”

    “You will start off undercover but after your first assassination attempt your cover will likely be blown. You have professional level training and there is no way to hide that from your target, let alone your classmates. After that you will continue as a student and but also aide me in teaching PE as you have a unique perspective on things that could make all the difference in killing the octopus. Your cover is the same as when you attend your regular school, nothing fancy. Only the Chairman, Jelavic and I currently know that you’re a spy and the main campus is never supposed to know anything even after your cover is inevitably blown.”

    “Right, last question, I was told my equipment would be here when I arrived is that true?”

    “There is a box a waiting back at the apartment that has been rented for you. For today, you’ll be using the same equipment as the rest of the students, here is your knife by the way.” Karasuma handed him a knife in a holster.

    “This knife is plastic.” Alex deadpanned bending the blade to demonstrate his point.

    “It is harmless to humans, but I assure you it is quite deadly to your target. You will also have access to guns as well as specialized ammo. Anything else you need for your assassination attempts, please go through me.”

    “Now that, that is all squared away. It’s time to discuss your scholastic endeavors.” The Chairman shifted the focus back to him, and Alex felt the hair on the back of his neck rise.

    “So, I’m not just here to kill a teacher?” Alex remarked dryly faking surprise.

    “No. If you are going to attend this lustrous academy, you are required to have decent grades at the very least even for E-Class.” The Chairman declared, and Alex couldn’t help but feel like it was supposed to be an insult.

    “My grades won’t be a problem.” Which wasn’t entirely a lie, his grades had been great until… well his uncle was killed, and MI6 sunk their claws into him. This was going to be a long-term mission at a school where his only goal was to kill his teacher. Which gave him plenty of time to keep actually do his school-work.

    “You will also be expected to wear the school uniform. A one-time exemption will be made for today since you quite literally just arrived. I except that there will also be a box of uniforms for you at your apartment.”

    “Of course, along with an allowance and some food. Though most of that is between you and MI6.” Karasuma added

    “Oh, good I was wondering if I was going to face starvation this mission.” Alex wasn’t touching the topic of MI6 with a ten-foot pole.

    “Yes, now should your grades remain at the level your transcripts suggest and if there are no behavioral issues you will be allowed to transfer to A class.” The Chairman had this charisma around him, and Alex supposed that, that was supposed to motivate him somehow. Alex couldn’t help but smirk.

    “Thanks, but no thanks.” Alex replied easily, “I’d rather stay near my target, keep your enemies close and all that.”

    “I see, I am sure you’ll change your mind in time. It’s no matter.”

    “I wouldn’t hold my breath.” Alex snarked before deliberately breaking eye contact but still carefully watching the Chairman out of the corner of his eye. Turning to Karasuma Alex spoke directly to him pointedly ignoring the Chairman, “Now I take it I have classes to attend?”

    The Chairman gave them a scathing look and while Alex was completely fine with staying just to annoy him. Karasuma had other ideas and guided him out of the office to the hall all the while apologizing for some reason.

    Once they were safely in the hall with the office door behind them Karasuma finally answered his question, “As you should have been made aware, E-class is on the satellite campus, we have to hike quite a bit to get to the classroom from here.”

    “That isn’t a problem.”

    “It can be… well treacherous from here especially since we found out the bridge washed away during the hike to the last assembly.” Karasuma lead the way through the school.

    “Right.” Alex didn’t know of any school that had students hike up and down a mountain for classes or assembly let alone one where the bridge went out and a new one had yet to be built. Granted, it was hardly a problem for him since he actually enjoyed things like hiking and mountain climbing when people weren’t actively trying to kill him.

    “Also, watch out for falling boulders, snakes, and bees.” Karasuma warned as they began the trek into the forest and Alex continued to wonder what the hell was wrong with this school - besides the obvious issues of training children to kill their teacher. His couldn’t help but think that the Chairman had something to with this.

 

* * *

 

    It wasn’t long before they were in front of in a rather rough looking building as they made great time according to Karasuma. The building in front of them was surprisingly flimsy looking. Alex was surprised it was even standing considering it looked like a strong wind would blow it away. They made their way to the back of the building regardless.

    “Hey!” Karasuma yelled getting the attention of… well it definitely wasn’t an interagency prank. Everything was in complete chaos, around five students were attempting to stab their teacher while another five were aiming guns safely over their classmates’ head at their teacher’s.

    “Ah! Yes, the new student! Children cease fire!” The octopus man declared firmly and surprisingly everything came to a halt despite the noises of protest from the students. His limbs moved in strange ways and Alex couldn’t but feel octopus was the best descriptor for his… target.

    “Class, this is the new student Rider, Alex.” Karasuma interjected before anyone else could say anything.

    “Wonderful! Welcome to E-Class! I’m your target and teacher known as Koro-Sensei!”

    “Right. Nice to meet you, and just call me, Alex.” Alex replied still a bit jarred, this whole thing just felt surreal.

    “It is lunch right now, so why don’t you talk with your new classmates and get caught up on assassination. Now! I’m off to Chicago! I here this is wonderful hot dog stand!” In a fraction of an instant Koro-sensei was gone.

    “Well that’s not something you see every day.” Alex slipped back into English out of surprise.

    “Woah! You sound so much cuter than Bitch-Sensei!” A blonde girl commented in Japanese smirking at him slyly.

    “Uh… Thank you?” Alex replied to her mainly confused, on who exactly “bitch-sensei” was or referred to.

    “I’m Rio Nakamura. Welcome to E-Class.” She said but it was her shifting the gun she was holding to balance in the crook of her arm pointing it in the air that truly caught Alex’s attention. She kept the gun firmly in her control and aimed away from anyone and anything living, the safety had been clicked on since she stopped firing. They were fake guns that fired bbs, it would hurt should anyone be hit with them but this level of training was on par with how he was trained with to handle guns with live ammo. She shouldn’t be pointing in the air even if she had the safety on, but it wasn’t unheard of. She was smiling perfectly relaxed offering her free hand, Alex shook it more out of habit than anything else.

    “So, you’re the new student.” A boy with red hair approached them with a similar posture though his head was tilted up though he was clearly sizing Alex up.

    “I’ve been here from the beginning are you just now noticing? How rude.” Alex replied as the rest of the students from the “assassination” attempt moved towards him, without much thought Alex moved a bit to stop himself from being cornered.

    “Well, Alex it’s nice to meet you, I’m the male class rep Isogai, if you need any help adjusting just ask. E-class isn’t your typical class after all I’m sure you have questions.”

    “Not for now, Karasuma and the Chairman explained the situation well enough.”

    “Hey, are you an assassin like bitch-sensei?” The red headed boy asked abruptly.

    “Karma, isn’t that a bit inappropriate?” An androgynous blue haired student asked Karma or rather commented since Karma seemed to not really care. Though it did explain who bitch-sensei was, it was a pretty funny pun when Alex thought about it.

    “No, I’m not an assassin like her.” Alex hid a smirk, it was technically true, he wasn’t an assassin though taking this mission might just have made him one. Well it was a hat he’s worn before – sort of. Though his skill set is fundamentally different from Jelavic, honeypot missions weren’t something MI6 had him do thankfully.

    “Shame that might have actually been interesting.” Karma apparently said.

    “Sorry to disappoint,” Alex replied rolling his eyes.

    “I’m Nagisa, Koro-Sensei said we should catch you up on assassination, we should probably start with teaching you shoot. You’re from Britain and they don’t have guns, right?” The blue haired one, now named Nagisa said.

    “Generally? No, but I learned how to shoot on holiday in America.” Alex lied easily

    “Oh?” Karma smirked, “Let’s see what you’ve got. Targets are over here.”

Alex and the rest of the students followed Karma to the makeshift shooting range with large circular targets.

    “I don’t know about this, shouldn’t we get Karasuma to supervise?” One of the students commented but Alex figured Karasuma wouldn’t care either way since Alex knew what he was doing. He picked up a weapon from the rack, checked the ammo and safety.

    “It will be fine. I do know what I’m doing.” Alex reassured them.

    “Oh? Hey! Chiba, Hayami! Come on transfer, let’s see if you're better than our best.”

    Alex took a moment weighing his options, shooting well shouldn’t blow his cover. He had been top of his class when he was in SCORPIA so he doubted they could do better than him. Still it was a risk just was it one he was willing to take?

    “Sure. All at once or one at a time?” Alex asked despite his internal debate.

    “All at once.” Karma decided

    “Fine.” Alex lined up his shot with ease and waited for Karma to give the go ahead. Chiba and Hayami were falling into similar stances.

    “Go!”

    Alex fired in a very careful pattern every shot deliberately falling where he wanted them, in a barely recognizable pattern unless you got the bright idea to connect the points he’d shot and even then, it had to be in a very specific order. Finally, he finished off his clip by firing three consecutive shots in center of the bullseye.

    He and the other two students took a step back. They were focused on the bullseye solely and without a doubt both of them were good, but recoil still seemed to be a challenge that they hadn’t quite figured out.

    “Looks like you lost Rider.” Karma taunted clearly trying to annoy him by using his last name.

    “Did I?” Alex smirked putting his gun back on the rack, sparing a glance at his target it looked exactly like he intended not a shot out of place. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to practice some more, won’t I?”

    “Huh, well that was just strange.” Nakamura whispered before looking at the target for a moment her eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Smirking she just shrugged, “He may not be a crack shot but at least he’s cute.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I want to address a comment Alex makes in regards to Jelavic where he says her act is "completely inappropriate for a teacher - even if he was technically speaking of age, at least in the UK". I'm directly referencing the consent laws in the UK, which amount to Alex's perspective on things where 16 is the age of consent. Overall, I just wanted to say if a teacher hits on you even if you are 16, it's not okay regardless of the situation. The only exception is in college and with a teacher that doesn't teach you or will never teach you hits on you and both parties are over the age of consent, that's fine. Just didn't want anyone to take that one line to mean it's okay if a teacher hits on you if you are 16. It's really not. Okay. I'll step off my soap box now, just didn't want anyone to twist that around and felt a responsibility to explain that line a bit more and the context it comes from. I might edit that line later depending on how I feel since I'm doing the final edit with a fever.
> 
> All of that aside, I also wanted to say thank you for reading and the kudos and comments. I've been abnormally busy, but thank you and I am happy that all of you are excited for this story, sorry I did not respond to them, I just am really busy and if something sits in my inbox for more than like a week I tend to forget about it. Anyway, summer is approaching and despite having a somewhat packed schedule, I should be able to upload more as I will have far fewer papers to deal with.
> 
> One more thing whoops, the pattern Alex shots would make a Union Jack if the lines were connected correctly and he shoots three shots in the bullseye because the Union Jack combines roughly three flags - odd detail but I wanted him to show off a little and the two seconds of research was worth it.


	3. Moving In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex moves into his apartment and goes through his equipment for this mission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smithers might be a little OOC, it's been years since I've read an Alex Rider book and the wiki was less than helpful - so just a heads up. Also the tags have been updated a bit, due to Alex's grief over Jack.

     Alex was thankful that Karasuma got called away leaving Alex, to settle himself in. Which Alex frankly preferred, especially if his equipment from Smithers was there. The fewer people who knew what exactly he had up his sleeve the better.

     His apartment wasn’t exactly far from campus, but it wasn’t really close either. The hike down the mountain was what took the longest really and if Alex had, had the energy to jog, he likely would have cut his commute time in half.  

     It was a nice yet unassuming neighborhood and from the outside his apartment looked the same as all the others. There was a name card next to the door which had the kanji version of his name; he still wasn’t entirely used to it yet. It made finding the place easier which wasn’t necessarily a good thing. He would probably have to damage it since his name was well known in certain circles or rather the survivors from those certain circles. It just felt sloppy to leave it as is. Unsurprisingly, the key worked, and the inside of the apartment was tidy yet filled with more than a few boxes.

     Alex sighed throwing his bag on the couch and began searching around for a box cutter. He could have just used his knife, but he didn’t want to have to clean the adhesive residue off of it later.

     “Okay, here we go.” Alex resigned himself to a long afternoon of unpacking boxes trying to find the one from Smithers which was likely unmarked because of course it was.

     Cutting open the first box, he found what would have been his luggage containing some causal clothing, and more personal items from his home. He doesn’t even remember packing it. Carefully, he pulled out a well-worn green utility jacket.

     It wasn’t his.

     It was obvious from the cinched waist of the jacket, but without thinking he put it on and wrapped himself it in. It was comforting despite the memories it brought up. Alex didn't know how long he just sat there not moving just wrapped up in the mess that was his head before the sound of a police siren pulled him back down to Earth. Sighing, Alex set that box aside and grounding by paying more attention than strictly necessary when opening boxes. The majority of them – 3 of the 5 – were just uniforms. Why they sent three separate boxes instead of just one he may never know. There was only one box left, the largest of the five which should be his equipment.

     Carefully, making sure he was only cutting through the tape, Alex opened the box to find a note from Smithers on top of a laptop.

_Alex –_

_Whenever, I do mean whenever, you get this please use this laptop to call me using the video chat feature. I trust you know how to use a laptop, old chap._

_– Smithers_

_Ps – The first time you turn it on it will not be password protected, instead it will check your fingerprints to verify your identity after our call it will then prompt you to create a password._

 

     Alex chuckled reading Smither’s note. It was almost 5pm making in roughly 1am back home but Smither’s had said to call to him whenever. Setting the laptop on the coffee table he quickly located the charger and plugged everything in before turning the power on just in case. It was a sleek design but clearly a Smithers’ original as there was no obvious branding anywhere. Though there was a case for it in the box with a popular brand’s logo on it, but Alex would be willing to bet that it was near indestructible. The laptop was mainly locked, allowing him to only use a few features mainly video chat which would only allow him to call someone in his contacts, of which there was only one, Smithers. Alex raised an eyebrow but figured it was one of Smithers’ many security features.

     “Alex? Old Chap?” Smithers’ voice responded but the screen was still black, there seemed to be some movement in the frame but Alex wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. Alex was just happy that Smither’s didn’t sound as if he had been sleeping.

     “I’m here.” Alex confirmed for him just in case the issue went both ways.

     “I can see that.” Smithers laughed, “Give me a moment to adjust the camera on my end I thought I’d have a bit more time, so I was messing with the lens. Ah there we go; can you see me now?”

     Smithers’ face came up on the screen looking a bit tired but not overly so.

     “Yeah, I can. How have you been?”

     “I’m good certainly had a good time creating your equipment it was a whole new challenge this time. Creating gadgets that both are well disguised and non-lethal to humans all while making sure they can do damage to your target.” Smither’s laughed reached for something off-screen, “But I bet you’ve had a long day; what do you say we jump into it?”

     “Of course, I have the box here so Smithers’ what am I looking at?” Alex pulled the box a little closer, removing some of the packing material.

     “Well, under the laptop should be a standard case.”

     “Standard? When is anything you’ve given me standard?” Alex and Smithers’ chuckled as Alex pulled out the black case.

     “Well it’s not quite standard, it just looks standard. It will protect the laptop against pretty much any type of accident, some types of explosions and most bullets, of course excluding armor piercing ones. The laptop itself is connected to a secure network and can create hotspots if you for whatever reason can’t access the main network. It can also be submerged up to 50 feet for around an hour in water so spilling the occasional Coke or coffee on it shouldn’t wreck it. But please Alex don’t spill anything on it. Now, it can also scan for bugs should you feel the need to which is a feature I am sure you will recognize. Also, should you need to, you can open a program, that will turn it into a smoke bomb with tear gas so do try to not get caught in the blast. The smoke bomb is also under a moniker that you have seen before. Finally, it also has an impressive firewall just in case and it will hide your activity as well.”

     “So let me guess Speed Wars and Bomber Boy?”

     “Of course!” Smithers nodded while pulling out what looked like 2 clips for a gun, “Next is something MI6 is aware that I am giving you but not quite the functionality of it.”

     Alex just sat there stunned for a moment before responding, “Smithers is this a gun?” Alex pulled out what appeared to be a semi-automatic handgun from the box. It had a neon orange lock on it likely for shipping reasons with a key attached. Then there was a fairly large box of ammo next to it.

     “Yes, my boy use it well. You’ll notice two types of clips that are color coded. One has two purple bands at the top. There are also bumps along the bands and side in case you are changing clips without looking. These fire what I am told is called anti-sensei material, in the forms of bullets not BBs. The bullets are just far more aerodynamic than BBs which should give you an edge where speed is concerned. Now, the second type of clip has black bands instead of purple and are completely smooth. These fire live ammo. And because these are custom made, you’ll have to order them through me, but I have two reasonably large packages in transit to you so should have more than enough by the end of the week.” Smithers showed each clip for the camera and pointed out the little details which Alex noted were present on his own. Though he was still partially stunned at the addition of live ammo.

     “ _Live_ ammo?” Alex carefully took a bullet from the clip examining closely, “I take it this is the feature MI6 doesn’t know about.”

     “Yes, considering your history with assassins I figured you might need something that could do some more serious damage than a smoke bomb and few explosive earrings.” Smithers said a bit sheepishly, though he was clearly unapologetic about going behind MI6’s back on this matter.

     “Thank you.” Alex replied clearing his throat, to fight back the emotions, wrapping the jacket around himself a little tighter.

     “You’re very welcome Alex,” Smithers smiled, equally as effected, “Now there are a few more things about this gun as from what I hear your target isn’t fond of giving students actually dangerous items like actual guns. So, to stop him from taking it from you, all parts of the gun are coated in anti-sensei material. On top of that the contract MI6 has with the Japanese Defense Ministry also views taking your gadgets – including the gun – as an act of violence against a student so in a manner of speaking his hands are tied.”

     Alex nodded along examining his new gun for a moment longer, before placing it to the side along with the box of ammo.

     “Next, we have some more inventive weaponry. From what the Japanese Defense Ministry told me they have knives, and BBs, which seemed woefully limited to me. After some trial and error, and an extensive back and forth with the Japanese Ministry of Defense; I found a way to aerosolize the material, there should be four canisters. Two of them have a red top and those are a spray paint type substance that goes on clear and dries down to create a surface your target cannot touch. The other two have grey tops and are smoke bombs, these are a bit trickier and because the Japanese Ministry was very insistent that these not harm the other students, I am not entirely sure how effective they will be.”

     “Can you make a more potent one?” Alex asked taking the smoke bomb out of the canister and looking it over. It had a standard pull pin release, but likely worked more like those colorful smoke bombs instead of the ones used for crowd control.

     “Of course, just it could trigger an asthma attack, irate the respiratory tract, trigger flu like symptoms, and in some cases a zinc chloride inhalation lung injury so standard safety precautions would be necessary.” Smithers rattle of moving off camera for a second to grab a notebook before continuing, “There is also the risk of damage to the lungs depending on the particulate size of the anti-sensei material and the concentration, especially if set off in a room with poor ventilation.”

    “Could you make one more like a flash bang than a smoke bomb?” Alex asked thinking through some basic ideas for his assassination plot.

    “Yes, I could but while I trust you with something that amounts to riot control gear, unfortunately the Japanese defense ministry does not.”

     “I’ll see what Karasuma has to say about that, since apparently there was an assassination attempt that nearly killed one of students in a suicide bomber kind of way. I doubt they’d stop me from using a stronger smoke bomb keeping that in mind.”

     “Keep me updated then.” Smithers chuckled before realizing what Alex had said, “Wait a someone nearly blew themselves up!”

     “Yeah, a grenade made with anti-sensei material and a few spoonfuls of gunpowder. He’s fine though the target shed his skin to protect the student, which apparently is something he can do.” Alex recapped before moving on, they had more pressing matters and he hardly wanted to keep Smithers up all night with tales of assassination attempts, “Is there anything else in this box? It looks empty.”

     “It should be, though you should have also received a box of uniforms.”

     “A box? I have three.” Alex moved to grab all three boxes displaying the contents to Smithers.

     “Oh bugger, we told the school not to send you any, but they must have ignored that. Well, you’re going to have to check the tags. Thankfully, I had the foresight to have an R embroidered on the tags just in case you got yours mixed up with someone else’s. They are made of a fabric that allows them to absorb impact, similar to a bulletproof vest. I would have made them bulletproof only their lightweight nature made that impossible. The blazers are the sturdiest, not bulletproof mind you. But should minimize the damage especially when wearing multiple layers. The PE uniforms are also made of the same material, but they’re short sleeved so please be careful3.” Smithers explained holding up a sample of the material.

     “Any special washing instructions by chance?” Alex asked dumping out the boxes, as he began sorting through the clothes tossing them into one of various boxes based on which ones they were.

     “Nope, just wash them how you usually would, and hang to dry. The details are on the inside tag just in case you forget.”

     “Looks like I’ll have to wash them tonight, is that everything?”

     “Yes that’s just about it. Just some things Mrs. J. wanted me to mention to you. Mainly that after creating a password for your laptop, several contacts will appear and one of them will be the Royal and General Bank. That is your distress signal, though you shouldn’t need it based on what the Japanese Ministry of Defense has told us. The rest of the contacts are your classmates and syncing your phone to the laptop will download those to your phone along with the Bank’s number of course.”

     “Got it, and thank you Smithers, for everything.”

     “You’re welcome Alex, and good luck. This might prove to be your most dangerous and safest mission yet. It was a pleasure as always.” Smithers gave a little wave while ending the call leaving Alex to sort through his clothing and his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I said I'd update more frequently over the summer, but clearly that didn't happen. Sorry about that by the way. Though the next chapter should be up soon as it was originally supposed to be a part of this chapter, but it didn't fit. It just lost some of its bite when something else came after it. I am stunned at how many people are interested in this, and thank you all. I hope this chapter meet your expectations as I'm still not sure about it, but that seems to be a trend with me, so pay it no mind. 
> 
> And one more thing before everyone goes, the jacket is Jack's if that wasn't clear. I wanted a jacket that was androgynous but also clearly not Alex's and I think a utility jacket fits the bill. It will reappear in later chapters as will Alex's grief.


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